A DAY WITH... TRAVEL WEEKLY ON THE ROAD
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ABOVE: The Planet Cruise team
FROM LEFT: Planet Cruise TV team; presenters Glenn and Keith; cameraman Gavin Mann; Sharon Campbell, general manager, with the agency’s awards cabinet
Sharon. “So when viewers told us they wanted more content we evolved the show and dedicated more time to sharing experiences of new products, ships and destinations.” The shows are planned in advance and the schedule includes “important dates in the cruise calendar”, such as ship launches and refurbishments. Last week’s show was all about Thomson Cruises’ ship Tui Discovery and this week’s is around the refit of Cunard’s Queen Mary 2. When Travel Weekly spent the day filming with Planet, the show was all about Disney Cruise Line, following the brand’s recent revelation that it was investing in new ships.
Developing talent While former cruise ship worker Keith Maynard is a professional TV presenter, his co-host Glenn Wallis has been a cruise consultant for Planet Cruise for the past two years. “Like Keith, Glenn also has a background of
working on ships,” Sharon says. “They’re both extremely knowledgeable and they work well together in front of the camera. “We like to train and grow talent within the Planet Cruise business and we saw an opportunity for Glenn to be a host on the show. He also hosts the TV show slot too and that works really well.”
Lights, cameras, action Each week the team research deals, destinations and ships in advance of filming Planet Cruise Weekly. Every Wednesday Sharon and the crew get
together to discuss the order of the show and fine tune the plan of action for filming each segment. Cameraman and video editor Gavin Mann has the task of pulling the show together before its cut and edited. It’s then uploaded every Thursday at 5pm
onto Planet Cruise’s YouTube channel. “It may get loaded on to the site every week
like clockwork but the fact it is online means you can tune in at any time and watch it,” Sharon says. “There’s also the luxury of being able to
watch previous shows if it was on a topic of particular interest.” While viewing figures from the Ideal World
show aren’t readily available, Planet’s YouTube show has so far attracted an audience of anything between 2,500 and 8,000 viewers. “It’s extremely popular and we’re really pleased with how well it has been received,” Sharon says. “We definitely see a notable spike in people visiting the website once the show has been uploaded online.”
Hollie-Rae Merrick @Hollierae_tw . 1m
Shadowing the making of @planetcruise’s weekly YouTube show #TWontheroad
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Hollie-Rae Merrick @Hollierae_tw . 6m
The essential selfie shot with @beefikeefi @planetcruise #TWontheroad
HOLLIE’S DAY
Attending the production meeting at Planet Cruises office almost felt like a normal day at
Travel Weekly HQ. The similarities between their
meeting and our internal news meetings surprised me. Having researched the latest news
on Disney Cruise Line – the focus of that week’s show – the team discussed what was most important to communicate to viewers. Like our meetings, they thrashed
out various angles for that week’s shows to highlight what existing and potential Disney Cruise fans want to hear. I had always been intrigued about what goes on behind the scenes of a TV show, and watching the action unfold in Planet’s own studio was genuinely interesting. It showed me a different angle to the various roles travel agents perform. And being able to offer advice and expert knowledge in this way is another string to Planet Cruise’s bow.
23 June 2016
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